[04/02/11 - 08:58 AM]ABC Hits a 7-Week High on Friday as "Shark Tank" and "20/20" Post GainsABC spins the numbers for Friday, April 1.

[via press release from ABC]

ABC Hits a 7-Week High on Friday/"Shark Tank" and "20/20" Post Gains

ABC finished in a virtual-tie for #1 with CBS on Friday in Adults 18-49, pacing within 1-tenth of a rating point and tied in audience share.

· ABC turned in a 7-week high on Friday in both Total Viewers and Adults 18-49 - since 2/11/10.

At 8pm, ABC's Shark Tank grew 4% over its week-ago premiere in Total Viewers and held 100% of its opening Adult 18-49 audience. Running #1 among the major nets in the time period among Adults 18-49, ABC's Shark Tank beat out CBS' series debut of Chaos by 9%.

· Shark Tank drew ABC's largest audience in the time period in nearly 3 months - since 1/7/11.

From 9-11, a 2-hour edition of ABC's 20/20 earned second place in its time period with Total Viewers and across all key Adult demos (AD18-34/AD18-49/AD25-54), moving up into the #1 position in the 10 o'clock hour among Adults 18-49. Head to head, ABC's 2-hour 20/20 defeated NBC's 2-hour Dateline by double-digit percentages in Adults 18-49 (+15%) and Adults 25-54 (+11%). 20/20 featured Chris Cuomo's exclusive report looking at how someone beat and left a young woman for dead and then managed to sneak out of a hotel with numerous security cameras.

· Building its numbers for the 2nd straight week, 20/20 generated its 2nd-strongest performance on the night since mid-February in Total Viewers, Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54 - since 2/11/11.

· 20/20 was up from its delivery on the same night last year by 14% in Total Viewers and by 23% in Adults 18-49.